Tome
by Jess Marylin
Summary: 'Tome' means 'together'. And that is how Skylar and her boys will make it through this dreadful war. Together. One-shot set right after the First Battle of Geonosis.


_Star Wars does not belong to me. Just Skylar & Co._

_Be sure to check out the other tales in the Aliit storyline. List is on my profile.  
_

* * *

_**One standard day after the First Battle of Geonosis...**_

As Skylar Cordav stepped off the transport and onto the hangar deck of the _Jetiise_'s brand spanking new flagship, _buy'ce_ clipped to her belt, she could immediately sense the grief. There were injured men in every corner, some being attended too by the medical droids, many by their own brothers. There were even a few who had separated themselves from the others, helmets on the ground and their heads in their hands. Commandos who were the sole survivors of their squads...

Four thousand, nine hundred and eighty-two. That was the commando losses for the battle of Geonosis. Almost _half_ of the boys that had made it through training back on Kamino. It would not surprise her if several of her own _vode_ were among those killed in action... That very thought broke her heart.

For several moments, heedless of the stares she was receiving from several commandos and most the flagship's deck personnel, Sky just stood there trying to take it all in. She'd seen men fall in training, but that was usually only one or two brothers every couple of weeks. Never before had she seen so much... _loss_ at this magnitude. It was so overwhelming that she lost control of herself and the tears ran down her face.

_This isn't right. This isn't _fair_!_ At that moment, Skylar wanted nothing more than to completely let herself go in a grieving rage. To take the arrogant _Jetiise_ apart. It was their _inexperience_ on the battlefield that had caused so many deaths. Actually, no, that wasn't right. It was their complete and utter _areutyc_ pride that had caused this war. If they had just been willing to let the Separatists secede from the Republic instead of trying to force them to stay, the Confederacy would not have turned to this Dooku and his ilk. And her brothers would be free men. All of the boys who had been killed on the desert planet would still be alive and whole. Safe.

"Sarge! _Ori'vod_! Sarge!" Three voices called out, voices that she loved dearly. What made her breath stop was that a fourth voice was missing... Cordav turned towards the voices to see three commandos running full tilt towards her, ignoring an officer shouting at them to return to their places. _Devrin, Quirk, Dover... Where's Frost?_ Her heart clenched as she took off at a dead run towards three of her brothers, "_Vod'ikase_!"

Completely heedless of the outright stares that they were definitely getting from _everyone_ in the hangar, the four embraced fiercely. Skylar couldn't breathe due to the fact that the remaining members of Tor Squad were hugging her so tightly.

Before she could even ask where Frost was, Dev spoke up, his voice sounding like he'd been crying only moments before, "Sky, w-we l-lost-" He gulped, burying his face in her neck.

"We lost Frost," Quirk said quietly, his own face buried in her brown hair. Dover hadn't said a word since he'd called out to her with his brothers, one of his fists firmly grasping a lock of her hair for comfort. Just like he'd done when she'd once comforted him from a nightmare back when he was just five years old.

"_Udesii_, _ner vod'ikase_. I'm here. Shh." This wasn't training anymore, this was _war_. And she and her brothers had been introduced to it in the worst way possible. Not that there was _any_ good way to be introduced to bloodshed...

There was the sound of boots, not commando-issue, and the sound of someone irritably clearing his throat. Cordav turned her head and glared at the deck officer, "Before you say _anything_, you _di'kut_, I'm their training sergeant. And I will personally court-martial you if you do not walk away _now_." Granted, she wasn't yet on the Republic's payroll, but she could care less. These boys were her _aliit_ and they _needed_ her right then. And she would allow no one, even if he was the Chancellor himself, to stand between her and her family.

* * *

_**Two days later...**_

Sky entered the mess, almost completely dead on her feet. After she'd comforted Tor, she'd spent the rest of the past two days making her rounds, talking with every commando that she could. Cordav had found several more squads of hers, most of them still intact, thankfully. Except for Hex Squad. When the KIA lists finally came up on her datapad, Cordav had found out that Jinx had been the only one of her boys to lose his entire squad. She'd been on a mission to find him ever since. Wreck, the sergeant of Aran Squad, had just mentioned that he'd seen him in the mess.

She looked around, nodding to the boys that looked her way. Just as Sky was about to give up and simply wait for him at his assigned quarters, which were astonishingly with Tor Squad, she spotted him sitting alone at the table furthest from the entrance. She couldn't help but notice that, although he had a full tray of food in front of him, his _buy'ce_ was still in place on his head and his arms were crossed firmly across his chest. According to Fidget, no one had really seen him eat in the last three days. That wasn't good, especially for someone with an extremely high metabolism.

Skylar removed her own bucket, clipping it to her belt as she took a circuitous route through the room so that she could walk up behind him. She stopped, placing her hands on her hips, "You're not gonna be able to stay at your peak if you don't eat, Jinx." He jumped. _Just as I thought. He wasn't watching his HUD._

Jinx whipped around and removed his own helmet, brown eyes huge as he gazed unbelievingly up at her, "Sky? What in the _manda_ are you doing here?! I thought you were still on Kamino!" That much was apparent from the call she'd gotten from him. He hadn't said much in the message he'd left, only that he missed her. But the brokenness in his voice had been enough to cause her to leave for Geonosis almost immediately.

"Why would I stay there when I'm needed here?" She sat beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He responded by embracing her fiercely.

"I missed you _so_ much, _S'ika_. My squad's..." He trailed off, a sob racking his entire body as he clung to her.

Cordav kissed the top of his head as she rubbed comforting circles on his back, "I know, _Jin'ika_. I know. That's still no excuse for you to starve yourself, though."

* * *

_Jetiise = Jedi (in the plural)_

_buy'ce = helmet_

_vode = brothers_

_aruetyc = foreign, non-Mandalorian_

_ori'vod = big sister_

_vod'ikase = little brothers_

_udesii = easy, calm down_

_di'kut = idiot, moron_

_aliit = family_

_manda = heaven_

_Please R&R._


End file.
